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Joseph Hertford
"What's wrong? Don't you think I'm...'handsome'?" Joseph Hertford 'was a former neurosurgeon turned criminal and mass murderer. Two years after the death of his wife, Anna, he started a career as a stand-up comic to spice up his boring job in an office cubicle. After telling an offensive joke, Joseph was fired from his job and falls into a spiral of depression. Waking up one morning as thin as a skeleton, he developed suicidal thoughts and jumps from the headquarters of the bank that fired him. Despite landing on a bus, he sustained no injuries. Discovering he may be a metahuman, Joseph decided to experiment and fulfil his wife's last wishes: keep on smiling, and have some fun, transforming into one of the famous dangerous criminals in Alexandria. Having plunged the city into chaos, he committed suicide, his body falling into Alexandria River. His actions inspired a movement based around him, which culminated in the creation of a dangerous supervillain successor, Handsome Joe, thirty years later. Biography Early Life Suicide Birth of a Madman Personality ''"You know, I was reading the paper this morning. Read this story about the city's spiking crime rate. You wanna know what I thought about it all? I was all so...'dull. I mean, think about it: a murder here, a murder there, a robbery over there and another one there...its all so boring. ... This city deserves a better class of criminal...something exciting, something...beautiful!"'' -- Joe to his therapist as he seeps deeper into insanity Physical Appearance "You know a woman called me handsome? '''Me, handsome'! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"'' Joseph Hertford is tall and initially well-built. However, after he loses his job he begins losing weight at a dramatic level until his bones are visible beneath his clothes. His skin also turns a deathly pale, appearing milk-white in some lights. The whites of his eyes turn a similar colour, and the outsides of his iris' become ringed with red. After slipping into insanity, he cuts his face with a knife and pulls down his jaw, ripping his cheeks, giving him an extended - and permanent - smile. Because these injuries are self-inflicted, they do not heal. He also colours his hair dark red with a mixture of red dye and his own blood and sticks his hair up, and finally turns up the collar of his coat. Abilities * Superior intellect: '''as a former neurosurgeon, Joe has a deep and educated understanding of the human body. * '''Immunity to pain: '''Joe feels little to no pain from the injuries he sustains, making him near unstoppable. * '''Healing factor: '''after unlocking his metahuman abilities after jumping off the tower, Joseph discovers that he can regenerate from any injury he sustains, excluding those that he inflicts on himself, making him - effectively - immortal. Among injuries that he has recuperated from include jumping from a rooftop and landing on a bus roof; breaking his neck on a bar counter; being shot in the stomach and eye, and straightening his spine and legs after being run over by a train. Weaknesses * '''Slipping sanity: as Joe falls deeper and deeper into his fantasies, his grip on sanity wanes. It is later revealed that his insanity is a side-effect of his metahuman abilities. * '''Self-inflicted injuries: '''while able to regenerate from any injury sustained on him, Joe is unable to restore wounds that he inflicts on himself. For example, after attempting suicide and failing, he slashes his wrists and nearly dies from blood loss. Another example of this is the extended smile he cuts onto his cheeks. Former Weaknesses * '''Anxiety: '''before he met his wife and after his wife's death, Joe suffered severe anxiety, only able to perform his stand-up routine when heavily intoxicated. As his descent into insanity begins, Joe becomes more flamboyant, confident and extravagant, shedding his former anxiety. Equipment * '''Joe's Knife: '''Joe's primary weapon is a knife that his wife brought him from a hunting shop.Category:Characters Category:Supervillains Category:Metahumans